Chapter 72: New World
Gray woke up to the sound of birds chirping all around him, and he felt the warm discomfort of the sun’s rays shining directly onto his face. He slowly sat up, half-expecting to be resting on his comfortable mattress back at the prison base. Then, the memory hit him, he had officially used the [Rebirth] option from his system.
He stood up and stretched, immediately using his enhanced Saiyan senses to scan his surroundings. He quickly discovered that he was in the absolute middle of nowhere. No matter which way he turned his head, he only saw rolling mountains and dense woods extending for as far as his eyes could see.
"What is wrong with this system and woods? It’s the second time..." Gray muttered to himself, shaking his head.
He looked down at his clothes, finding nothing amiss. He was still wearing his heavy, weighted Xeno Goku outfit from his final day in Georgia. He willed his system interface to appear in his vision to check his current state. Just as the description stated, all of his high-tier gold upgrades and his massive bank account had completely reset back to zero. However, because of his successful first run, his base gold multiplier now started out at a permanent 1.10x.
[Status Info]
Name: Gray Ashwood
Age: 23 years old
Race: Saiyan
Gold: 0
Gold per hour: 0
Gold Multiplier: 1.10x
Time: 10:00 AM
Gray navigated over to the gold generation tab and immediately started the free baseline upgrade, which would grant him 1 Gold per hour.
[New Upgrade]
(free) 1 Gold/Hour
After getting so accustomed to making billions upon billions of Gold every single hour in the previous world, looking at a flat zero made him feel incredibly poor. But as he flexed his fingers, he felt the massive, world-shattering physical power still flowing perfectly through his muscles. He checked his side menus and smiled, both his fully unlocked Training Dimension and his max-level Home Garden plots were completely available and ready to deploy. He also kept his permanent system-integrated upgrades with him, meaning he still had his 40-slot inventory, his system clock, and his max-level World Map completely active and intact.
He just needed to find out what kind of fictional world he had landed in before he did anything. Seeing that his upgrade was 10 hours away, Gray took off to the skies, and since it was barely 10 in the morning, Gray had a long time to explore.
Thanks to his max-level map, Gray instantly noticed that he had landed somewhere in Japan. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary on the map screen, he began flying across the landscape to scout out his surroundings.
He eventually spotted a small town, dropped down into a secluded spot, and started mingling with the local people to gather information. He immediately noticed that a lot of the citizens looked incredibly weird. Some walked down the street with furry animal tails, while others had horns growing out of their heads or strangely colored skin. They looked highly familiar, but Gray didn’t want to jump to any hasty conclusions just yet. After watching the crowd for a few minutes and realizing that absolutely nobody was paying attention to his unusual appearance, he reached down, unbuckled his furry Saiyan tail from around his waist, and let it swing free.
Since the small town didn’t have any massive banners or signs that could explicitly tell him which universe this was, Gray slipped into a quiet alleyway and took off into the skies again. He planned to head toward the main big cities to find a definitive answer.
After flying through the clouds for a while, he suddenly stopped mid-air. He sensed an energy signature approaching him at an incredibly fast pace. Gray hovered in place and waited patiently for the mysterious flyer to arrive.
It didn’t take long before the figure broke through the cloud line, giving Gray a perfectly clear look. Gray hadn’t known exactly how the system’s Rebirth mechanics selected the next world, so he was fairly happy when he instantly recognized the person approaching him. The flyer possessed massive, vibrant red wings, messy blonde hair, and sharp golden eyes... It was Hawks.
The future number two pro hero had spotted a stranger flying completely unassisted high in the sky and chose to intercept him, since as far as he knew, not a single registered hero in Japan could fly like this without support gear or a highly specific quirk.
Staring at the hero, everything instantly clicked in Gray’s mind. ’My Hero Academia,’ he thought to himself.
With his current base power, Gray knew he could easily blitz and erase every single villain in this entire anime right now if he truly wanted to. All For One and Shigaraki wouldn’t even be able to register his movement. But as he thought about the timeline of the world, realization hit him. If this was the beginning of the anime, then Eri was likely already trapped inside the Shie Hassaikai compound, being brutally tortured and experimented on by Overhaul every single day to manufacture the quirk-destroying drugs.
Now possessing a clear objective, Gray focused his attention back on Hawks. The pro hero hovered a few feet away, using his feathers to maintain his position while looking over Gray’s Xeno Goku outfit and his moving monkey tail with an incredibly curious expression.
Gray chose to keep quiet at first, hovering casually in place. Seeing the stranger’s silence, Hawks offered a relaxed smile, his wings flapping smoothly to hold his position.
"Heya, sorry about this, but you don’t look like any hero I know," Hawks said. "If you don’t mind, could you show me your hero license?"
Gray knew exactly why the hero was asking. In this society, normal citizens were strictly forbidden from using their Quirks in public spaces... they could only manifest them at home or within specific, designated zones. Unlicensed use of quirks was an immediate red flag.
"I don’t have one," Gray replied simply, speaking in perfect, fluent Japanese. He internally thanked Miss J for the language lessons... things would have been incredibly awkward if he couldn’t even communicate.
Hawks didn’t look surprised, but his tone remained firm. "If you don’t have a hero license, then you must know that what you’re doing right now is illegal, right? I’m afraid I’ll have to give you a fine."
Gray didn’t want to make an immediate enemy out of the hero network or become a wanted fugitive on his very first hour in this universe. Besides, he realized he could potentially use the Pro Heroes or the police to help him pinpoint the exact location of the Shie Hassaikai compound much faster.
"Yeah, that’s fine," Gray replied, keeping his posture relaxed.
"Perfect," Hawks said, though he secretly noted that the kid didn’t look even remotely intimidated by the situation. "I will just need your ID to get a copy for my records."
Hearing that request, Gray froze mentally. He had just arrived in this universe and possessed absolutely no paperwork, birth certificates, or identification to prove who he was. If Hawks ran his biometric data, the databases would turn up a flat zero since he technically didn’t exist here.
Seeing Gray hesitate and make no move to reach for his pockets, Hawks’s smile tightened slightly, and his feathers tensed. "Look, man. Either you hand over your ID right now, or I’m going to be forced to take you down to the local police station for questioning."
Gray made a show of patting down his baggy black pants and the sash of his weighted vest, pretending to check his pockets even though he knew they were completely empty.
"Sorry," Gray said, looking up with a neutral expression. "It seems that I left my wallet back at home."
"Isn’t that convenient," Hawks said, his eyes narrowing slightly as his massive red wings beat the air.
"Where exactly is home? Maybe we can fly over to it, and you can show me. I have the time anyway."
Gray noticed how the hero’s attitude had changed. To be completely fair, he didn’t actually have a home here, and he really didn’t want to go to a police station. He decided to choose the safest bet and tried to talk his way out of the situation.
"Listen, man, I don’t want any trouble," Gray said, keeping his voice calm. "I was just on my way to the city and didn’t want to take the bus. How about you let me go with a warning? I promise I won’t fly around anymore."
Hawks seemed to think about it for a short moment, but he ultimately shook his head. "You see, I could do that, but I don’t know you. For all I know, you might be a villain. I’d rather take you to the station. So, will you go there with me willingly, or am I going to have to drag you down?"
Gray had tried his best to avoid any issues, but the tone Hawks was using made his Saiyan blood start to heat up. Who did this guy think he was, talking to him that way? If Gray wanted to, he could easily knock the hero out cold in less than a second and leave. But since Hawks wanted to act all cocky, Gray decided to test the waters of this new world.
"Sure," Gray then added, a smirk forming on his face. "You can try to drag me there if you can." He then added, "Are you sure you don’t want to call for backup first?"
Hawks smirked, looking incredibly confident in his own speed. "They wouldn’t be able to help anyway, and I’m more than enough for this."
Gray simply shrugged his shoulders. "Suit yourself."
The moment the words left his mouth, Hawks accelerated violently. The Pro Hero lunged forward, attempting to swiftly grab Gray’s arms, pin them behind his back, and secure him with the metal cuffs he carried on his belt.
But something completely threw Hawks off. Gray didn’t even flinch. Thanks to his high-gravity training and fights against Frieza, Gray’s eyes easily tracked every single movement the hero made in the sky. He effortlessly swayed his torso to the side, letting Hawks’s outstretched hands pass through empty air.
Realizing his initial capture maneuver had completely failed, Hawks instantly zipped backward, choosing to be far more cautious. He detached a dozen of his razor-sharp feathers, sending them buzzing through the air like guided drones to attack Gray from a distance. Hawks made sure to only target non-vital areas to avoid lethal damage, but it didn’t matter.
Gray simply blurred. Moving with effortless grace, he danced through the air using minor bursts of Geppo and his raw flying speed. He dodged every single projectile, letting the crimson feathers fly harmlessly past into the distance. Hawks instantly redirected the feathers using his telepathic connection, sending them looping back around for a second and third strike, desperately trying to find an opening.
But Gray just kept dodging without a single sweat on his brow. Watching the feathers clash and circle, Hawks’s heart began to race. He was certain now that the weird person standing in front of him wasn’t just a common criminal...this guy was a monster.
Hawks started getting more nervous the longer the fight went on. At one point, he completely stopped holding back with non-lethal capture tactics and started going all in.
But for Gray, it didn’t matter. To his Saiyan perception, trained to react to hypersonic speeds, both Hawks and his razor-sharp feathers were essentially moving in slow motion. Seeing that the Pro Hero had finally taken him seriously, Gray decided to offer him an out.
"You sure you don’t wanna drop it?" Gray asked, his voice calm and clear over the rushing wind. "I don’t mind going my way and you going yours. We can just count this as a friendly spar and move on."
Hawks backed off, hovering in place as he rapidly calculated his remaining options. So far, the mysterious stranger hadn’t thrown a single punch or displayed an offensive Quirk... he had effortlessly danced around his fastest attacks without breaking a sweat. Hawks had no idea how many dangerous tricks the guy might still have up his sleeve, and continuing a losing aerial battle out in the open was a risk.
Deciding to play it safe, Hawks recalled his feathers, letting them snap back into his wings. He crossed his arms and looked at Gray. "Alright. I’ll let you go this time. But next time, I’m definitely catching you, and you’re going to answer every single one of my questions."
Gray simply dusted off his black compression shirt, a casual smirk on his face as he gave a light nod. "Sure thing, chicken wings."
With that, Gray turned and took off into the distance. He deliberately dialed back his speed, moving fast enough to leave Hawks behind but slow enough to look like a standard high-tier flight Quirk. He knew Hawks would immediately try to dig up any sliver of information he could find on him, but since Gray had only existed in this universe for an hour, the hero was going to come up entirely empty-handed.
Watching the robed figure completely disappear into the cloud line, Hawks let out a heavy, exhausted exhale. The cocky smile vanished from his face as he reached up and tapped his communication earpiece, dialing his private line.
"Hey, it’s me," Hawks said into the mic, his tone completely serious. "I’m sending a data packet to the office right now. I need you to run a biometric search on this target. Check every registry, every school, and every villain watchlist in the country."
As it turned out, the high-tech yellow visor goggles Hawks wore weren’t just for blocking the wind, they contained a state-of-the-art camera system that had recorded the entire interaction, capturing Gray’s face, outfit, and monkey tail in crystal-clear high definition. Hawks compressed the video file and sent it directly to his main agency headquarters in Kyushu, determined to figure out exactly who this unregistered powerhouse was.